Ruto: SGR extension to Malaba to start by January
By Lutta Njomo, November 16, 2025President William Ruto has announced that the planned extension of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) from Naivasha to Malaba will commence by January 2026.
During the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) founding members’ dinner on Saturday, November 15, 2025, the president said that the SGR extension was in the founding manifesto of the Orange party, and he is committed to honouring it.
The head of state thus informed the ODM members to expect the commencement of the works by January 2026.
Ruto made the sentiments while defending different programmes touted by his administration, arguing that the late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga would have employed similar strategies currently being used to implement them.
“I can say here without fear of any contradiction that Raila Odinga would have implemented housing the way I am implementing; he would have implemented the Universal Health Coverage the way I am implementing because we believed in it together,” Ruto remarked.
“Even this railway thing, this SGR, it was in the original ODM manifesto and that it why I must move the railway from Naivasha to Kisumu to Malaba. By the way, I am going to begin to move it by January,” he declared.
Railway extension
His sentiments came days after it emerged that the government was set to utilise the railway levy charged on imported goods to boost funding for the extension of the Standard Gauge Railway to Malaba.
Further, the government is mulling raising a 15-year bond to facilitate the construction of the railway line.
The project involves compensation of individuals affected by the project, which will run through Narok, Bomet, Nyamira, Kisumu, and finally Busia County.
Initially, Ruto’s government had hinted at working with China to bankroll the project. However, the recent plans reflect China’s hesitancy to support the project.
Extension of the rail to Malaba and into the hinterland is expected to boost trade along the Northern Corridor, which runs from the Port of Mombasa into Uganda, South Sudan, DR Congo, Burundi, and Rwanda.